Lady Eagles claw Lions

By Clara Aucoin
GCN Senior Reporter

It seems that Shining Mountain and Gilpin County have been evenly matched forever.  The games are always tight, defensive struggles, with low scores and lots of physical play.  That history did not change when the Eagles hosted Shining Mountain Lions last Tuesday night in a nonleague encounter.  The Eagles flew to the top, edging out a 33-27 win.

The Eagles started the game in their deliberate offense.  It works because the girls have the defense to slow down other high-powered teams to the point their lower scores will win.  And, that defense was in evidence against the Lions.

Neither team could get off the grid with their scoring, but Andrea Galanski grabbed the rebounds to keep the Eagles in the game early.  Kim Hartman was snatching every ball that started out as a rebound for the Lions, but when the taller girl brought the ball down, it was fair game for the quick handed Hartman.  At the four minute mark of the first quarter the Eagles were behind 1-2.

One problem obvious for the Eagles early was their offensive output.  When Andrea Galanski was triple teamed inside, the other Eagles seemed a little at odds about what to do with the ball.  Their inside passes were being snatched up by the Lions and the offense was getting nowhere fast.  The referees were letting the girls play a little, so neither team was getting to the free throw line much, for a change.  But the Eagles toiled on, and on a couple good looks by the Kims, Hartman and Fuller, the Eagles managed a 5-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter the Eagles began to get more activity going inside.  Coach Shu, who adjusts as well as anyone in the league, moved Galanski from playing post to the outside, and the other players began to kick it in.  The passing improved, and the other Eagles were getting off shots and getting to the free throw line.  Katie Vaughn looked good when she had time to get off her set shot from the outside, and Kim Fuller was hitting her free throws.  All of it broke the scoring drought of the Eagles, and at the half the Eagles took a 15-11 lead into the locker room.

Both teams came back in the second half.  The girls got more physical and more fouls were called.  Still, the Lady Eagles stuck to their game and hung onto to their defensive skills.  The Lions, who like the Eagles were hurt by last year’s graduation class, does not have the firepower to shoot from the outside and the Eagles had the inside boxed up tight.  Fuller and Galanski kept grabbing rebounds and that led to points, although not in the fast break kind of way.  But Shining Mountain would not go away.  They kept coming back and kept putting points in when they were desperately needed.  The final, a win the Lady Eagles will happily take to the locker room, was 33-27.

The Lady Eagles travel to Jim Elliott School on Saturday for a game at 5:30.  League play will begin after the Christmas break. Statistics were not available, but Andrea Galanski and Kim Fuller led the Eagles in scoring with 10 points each.  Kim Hartman had two points, Erin Murray had six points, Amber Sterling sunk one free throw, and Katie Vaughn came through with four points.